Arthur Simpson-Kent gets whole-life sentence for killing Sian Blake played Frankie in the EastEnders in the 1990s

Court heard how Arthur Simpson-Kent even painted the walls of the home in a bid to cover up the murders

Hairdresser turned drug dealer Arthur Simpson-Kent, 49, admitted to killing 43-year-old  Sian Blake and their sons Zachary, 8, and Amon, 4

Claimed it was ‘mercy killing’ because her quality of life her had deteriorated from a diagnosis of motor neurone disease

After pretending to family and friends, the actress and her boys were alive, Simpson-Kent  fled to Ghana

The bodies were found three weeks after they vanished, buried in the garden of their home in London, UK

Judge slammed Simpson-Kent for the slaughter of vulnerable victims, unable to defend themselves

Sentenced to life  imprisonment to be served in full

Handcuffed Arthur Simpson-Kent Arthur Simpson-Kent appearing in the court in Ghana after being taken into custody

At the sentencing, Wednesday, Mr Justice Singh said Simpson-Kent had abused his position of trust and attacked his vulnerable victims, who were unable to defend themselves.
“The manner in which the defendant killed his victims in this case was truly horrific. Although the murder weapons have never been found, the evidence, including the pathology evidence, is consistent with his having killed each of his victims in turn, first Sian Blake and then each of the boys. It is consistent with his doing so with repeated blows with a blunt instrument, using severe force, and then by using a bladed weapon.”

Arthur Simpson-Kent viciously murdered his incapacitated former actress girlfiend Sian Blake and their two sons Zachary 8 and Amon 4 and buried them in their garden, then misled family and the authorities that they had gone’away’ on vacation. He received a full-life sentence today

Nike Women’s Juvenate Atomic Pink/Bright Crimson Running Shoe 9.5 Women US

British actress Sian Blake and her sons were brutally murdered by her long-term partner.
43-year-old Blake, who starred in the long running British soap EastEnders was viciously beaten and stabbed to death  along with her two young children by Arthur Simpson-Kent, a  UK court was told.
Among the chilling revelation was the fact that former hairdresser turned drug dealer Simpson-Kent, killed Blake and their sons, Zachary, eight, and four-year-old Amon, shortly after he learned she was planning on leaving him.  The prosecutor, Mark Heywood QC, said Blake was planning to return to live with her family “because of her condition and because of the state of their relationship”.
Sian Blake had recently been diagnosed with terminal (MND) motor neurone disease in the midst of an “unhealthy” domestic relationship, was considering selling their home and moving back in with her close family for support.

Apple Watch Sport, Space Grey Aluminum Case/Black Band, 42mm
Simpson-Kent, 49, her live-in, who is also the father of the boys murdered Blake and their boys, wrapped them in plastic and buried them in shallow graves in the garden of their home in SE london. He covered the impromptu graves with concrete slabs, then painted the walls of the house to cover up blood splatter at the crime scene.

Sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Arthur Simpson-Kent appearing in Court

Arthur Simpson-Kent in the dock during his extradition hearing in Ghana

Arthur Simpson-Kent, who has pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to the murder of his partner, former EastEnders actress Sian Blake, and their two children, at a point in the life of the actress, the prosecution stated, she had been so weakened by the motor neurone disease, that she would not have been able to fight off an attacker.
He told a psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph,  “something just snapped in me”.
“I felt as if I had just been pushed off a diving board and was falling.
“I grabbed hold of a small axe that was kept on a ledge in the kitchen. Sian’s head was bent low down and she was bent over looking at the floor. I approached her from the side and hit her at the back of the head as hard as I could and she fell unconscious at the first blow. After that I hit her repeatedly on the head. My mind was blank and I was focusing on doing and not thinking. It was like I was there but not there.”

 

Sian Blake

To cover up his heinous crime, Simpson Kent sent texts from Sian’s phone to family, including her sister Ava, saying that she had ‘gone away for a few weeks’ and was “taking time to myself and my children”. Questioned by police later that day, following a missing person’s report, the suspect told cops the actress was “fed up” with her family and had “gone to Cambridge to see a friend”.
He fled the home in the suburbs of South East London as soon as the cops left, abandoning Blake’s car East of the city and went to a friend who thought the cannabis dealer was in drug trouble.

Zachary, eight, who has gone missing with their mother, Sian Blake. Zachary  was found buried beside his brother and mother

His efforts to flee the UK to his native Ghana that night failed because he could not get on a flight. On the run he set in motion plans to evade UK authorities. In one text message to a friend, he stated “I need your help tonight.
“I can’t go into details about what I have done but I only have 2 choices. Go to Ghana one way or die.”
Pokemon HeartGold Version
His efforts to flee that night failed as he could not get on a flight out of the UK. he later succeeded in fleeing from London to Glasgow then a flight to Ghana via Amsterdam, arriving in Accra on December 19. In Ghana, under the name Arthur Kent, the fugitive spent New Year’s Eve partying hard, ending up with two girls whom he took to a café for breakfast next morning.

 4-year-old Amon was also killed by his father Simpson-Kent and buried in the garden alogside his older brother, Zachary and his mother Sian Blake

Arthur Simpson-Kent misled friends, family and the police into believeing Sian Blake was taking a break from people she knew

Arthur Simpson-Kent fled to Ghana after killing the family, here he is seen being taken to court for his extrdition hearing

According to the prosecution, when one of his new friends figured out who he was after seeing news reports, Simpson-Kent confessed to the killings, but failed in an attempt to buy the man’s silence with man with money and an iPad.
Ghana police arrested Simpson-Kent January 9 and told officers in Ghana there was an agreement with Sian to kill her and the kids as she had ‘no meaningful life’ left.
Extradited back to the UK in February, he faces a possible life sentence.

Ava Blake, Sian’s sister, received a text message from her phone after her death, stating that she was on vacation. The message was sent by her boyfriend, Simpson-Kent

Former EastEnders actress, Sian Blake lived for her sons Zachary and Amon. Both were killed and buried along with her by their father

Lindell  Blake,  Sian Blake’s mother arriving in court for the murder trial

Fugitive Arthur Simpson-Kent was arrested in Ghana and extradited to the UK to face trial for the brutal killing of the family

Mr Heywood said: “The evidence suggests, and this much is not disputed, that, on the night of December 14 2015, the defendant killed each of them in turn with heavy, deliberate, repeated blows with a blunt instrument not since recovered, and then by cutting and stabbing them with a bladed weapon in a way that ensured their deaths.
“He then covered his crimes by moving, wrapping and burying each of them, cleaning and partially painting his home.
“He misled friends, family and the police, among others, as to what he had done and where his partner and children had gone.”
Defense attorney, Jim Sturman,  said his client accepts there is very little mitigation for his crimes but claims it was a mercy killing after her diagnosis three days earlier.

Police confirmed the three bodies found in the garden of this home in Kent, UK are those of former EastEnders actress Sian Blake and her two children

Sian Blake appeared in Eastenders in the 1990s

The position of the defense was  “But for the fact Sian Blake was going to die from motor neurone disease, these killings wouldn’t take place.”
Noting that Simpson-Kent’s ex-wife described him as a “timid man”. He added:
“These killings cannot be divorced from the terrible illness Sian Blake was suffering from.”
Sturman added: “Arthur Simpson-Kent snapped under the pressure of the disease, the way it was killing Sian Blake and the inevitability of it all.
“This was an unprecedented burst of violence by an otherwise caring partner.”
He tells the judge he “affected the killings quickly” and the boys were asleep at the time as he urges him not to pass a whole life tarriff.
Simpson-Kent  told his counsel: “Prison is not going to be the greatest punishment. [That is] in my head and the guilt for what I have done.”

Cops investigate the front garden of the house in Erith, Kent. Police found three bodies at the home.

Sian Blake, aka Syan Blake,  who played played Frankie Pierre in 56 episodes of EastEnders between 1996 and 1997

The Blake family wept openly in court as the case unfolded. Her mother, Lindell Blake called Simpson-Kent an “evil monster” who robbed them of her “beautiful daughter and two angels”. The grieving grandmother said the family continued to suffer the impact of the killing of her “beautiful daughter” and her “angels” of grandsons, who were battered and stabbed to death by Simpson Kent in December.

Sian Blake murder suspect Arthur Simpson-Kent arrested at Heathrow after being extradited from Ghana

 In a statement to the court, Lindell Blake told how her faith had been sorely tested by what happened after her terminally ill daughter decided to leave the controlling Simpson-Kent and return to live with her in Leyton, east London.
“It’s difficult to put into words how much we have suffered as a result of their murder and how we will continue to suffer for the rest of our lives.
“We are all living a life sentence, we are all living a nightmare.
“I would give my life for another moment with my daughter.
“Time is supposed to be a great healer but our wounds are open and bare for everyone to see.
“We have scars where Arthur has taken what was not his to take.”

Sian Blake as Frankie Pierre on the set of EastEnders with on-screen love interest Alan Jackson (Howard Antony)

Describing her daughter verve for life, Mrs Blake in her statement said she was  “vibrant, she could light up a room with her smile”.
A mother who lived her sons, adding: “She was besotted with Zachary and Amon. They completed her.”
“We live knowing how Sian and the children would have been scared, terrified, before this monster slaughtered them in their home.”

Gucci New Jackie O Women’s Shoulder Bag Wisteria Purple Lilac Leather 277520/AMKOG
According to the attorney’s representing the family, Sian Blake last saw her family face to face on Sunday December 13, when she went to her mother Lindell Blake’s home in Leyton, east London, the court heard.
Mr Heywood said she asked her mother if the four of them, including Simpson Kent, could move in to the property.
Having turned down the request to have Simpson-Kent in her home,  Mrs Blake said her daughter “appeared to accept it”, instead “Her family encouraged her to move sooner or later.
Although no firm arrangement was made, the understanding was that she and the children would move over the coming holiday period, Christmas, even though she had originally requested a delay until the spring.

Arthur Simpson-Kent claims the murders were a mercy killing after Sian’s MND diagnosis

“That was the last time Sian Blake was directly seen alive by family members.”
The court heard that in the days following her death, family tried to contact her and received texts from her mobile phone saying she had gone away.
A message sent to her sister Ava read: “I’m taking time to myself and my children without constant opinions from family and friends.”
It added: “I have had enough of appeasing everyone. We are away and I will not be calling or speaking to anyone for a few months.”
Prosecutor  Heywood said: “The defendant, using her  phone, was sending the messages.” Noting that : “It indicates a deliberate attempt to mislead by the defendant.”
The lawyer added that, after Ms Blake and her children were dead, Simpson Kent “appears to have removed all of the possessions of Sian Blake and the two boys”, including clothes and shoes, from the house.
After adjourning sentencing yesterday, the judge today said:
“I have been left in no doubt that this is one of those exceptional and rare cases where the requirements of punishment mean that a whole life order must be imposed, even after taking into account the mitigating factors” .